Midterm Essays

Prompt #6

When it comes to categorization of rhetoric, humanity is presented with a peculiar paradox of the sort I'm sure the Greeks would have loved: Rhetoric can only be categorized through the use of rhetoric.

That said, I believe strongly that The Funeral Oration of Pericles exemplifies epideictic oratory, specifically encomium, in a more pure form than is often seen across the board:  Conflagration arises when people misinterpret what it's actually an encomium of.  However, Pericles himself states the subject of his speech is "the spirit in which [Athens] faced [its] trials," or Athens herself.

Encomiums typically hit 5 major bullet points: 1) The subject's origins, 2) the subject's progression (development), 3) an exposition of deeds brought to pass by the subject, 4) favorable comparisons, and, finally, 5) an exhortation to emulation.

With these points in mind, it's easy to spot them in the content:
1) Pericles begins by speaking of the birth of the Athenian Spirit through the reference of stories of their ancestors, who, through their "courage and their virtues, have handed [Athens] on to [their posterity] a free country."
2) He goes on to speak of the development of their society through the introduction of democracy, invention of laws (both social and judicial), and appreciation for all things beautiful as elements of Athens' backbone.
3)  He posits that Athens' open borders, ability to defend and attack sola impetum (alone), and politically active citizens are what make "no invading enemy ... ashamed at being defeated."
4)  Pericles even goes so far as to say the legacy of Athens will outshine and outlast the words of Homer!
5)  The closing statements are filled with suggestions for each group of citizens as to how they could more fully enjoin themselves with the spirit that has long fueled the Athenian ways, remarking, "We who remain behind ... must resolve to keep the same daring spirit."

Naturally, the closing remarks are tailored to the individuals to whom Pericles speaks, showing the necessity of even encomium to be kairotic.  I think it's also clear the intent was to stir patriotism from the hearts of a people whose family Pericles had just lead to their deaths, but this is a calculated side-effect of his employment of epideictic oratory, showing how skilled of rhetoricians both Pericles and Thucydides must have been.

Prompt #1

Drama serves a unique purpose amidst the art world, and it's one that hasn't died for millennia.  In our world, drama is an escape: a way for a viewer to leave their dimension and enter someone else's for a short time.  During that brief breach from reality, an audience becomes engrossed in situations they may never run into in their lives, but it doesn't matter: every member of that audience is now living life through the eyes of the performers, feeling as they do, thinking as they do, and, most importantly, understanding as they do.

As a playwright, Euripides gains fame from the severity and coarseness of the lives he makes his audience live.  In Electra, his viewers ache with the title character for the loss of a loved one, burn with vengeance towards Clytemnestra, churn with sorrow over the lost mother-daughter relationship, and pity Electra for the monster she becomes.  He forces us to watch and feel Electra's sanity slipping away, bit by bit, as her actions become less and less human, less and less rational.

While Electra's response to her situation creates feelings of disgust and pity, deep down, the audience finds the true horror in realizing they actually understand how Electra feels: They see how, given the same circumstances, they could make the same irrational choices she does.

True, this thought doesn't initially strike as pleasant, but comfort resides in the simultaneous discovery that these irrational emotions of grief, fear, and vengeance cross the boundaries of humanity.

Irrationality scares us- that's just what it does.  If something cannot be understood, defying categorization, explanation, and all aspects of logic, we become terrified, desiring to shun or shy from it. Through this shared experience, while not a form of true understanding, comes a sense of familiarity: And familiarity we can handle.